Method of making footwear



July 20, 1937. 5. J. BLECHER METHOD OF MAKING .FOOTWEAR Filed Dec. 13,1955

" W L-ZkZe/A I flaw INVENTOR ATi'oRN j Patented July 20, 1937 PATENT OFFICE} METHOD or MAKING FOOTWEAR Samuel J. Blecher, New York, N. Y., assignor of one-third to Max Weingast, New York, N. Y.

Application December 13, 1935, Serial No. 54,194

5 Claims.

My present invention relates to footwear and to the method of making the same and aims to provide certain improvements therein.

Footwear, that is, boots, shoes, slippers and the like, because of the different methods used in their manufacture, are characterized under several distinct types, notable among which are the turned shoe and the McKay shoe.

The turned shoe derives its name from the process used in its manufacture according to which the upper and sole'are lasted and sewn wrong side out and then turned right side out. It has no insole, the upper being stitchedfdirectly to the outsole in the course of which a curved needle is used. The turned shoe process is devoted especially to the manufacture of high grade boots and shoes for women, children and to the manufacture of slippers. I

The McKay shoe derives its name from its sponsor and in the process of making such shoe the upper is lasted upon the insole, the nails being clinched against the steel bottom of the last. The outsole is then attached to the united insole and upper by stitching on the McKay sew ing machine which makes a lock stitch through and through to the inside. of the shoe. To hide the stitching the surface of the insole is usually covered by a sock lining. McKay shoes are made generally for women and children and are intended to give greater wear and more flexibility. They are, of course, cheaper to manufacture than the turned shoe since the turning operation requires the services of high skilled labor and considerable time.

According to my invention I provide a shoe which embodies the features of both the turned and the McKay shoes, but is less costly than the turned shoe for the reason'that the turning operation is greatly facilitated by being carried out prior to the securing of the outsole to the shoe. In its manufacture the upper is turn lasted and sewn in wrong side out relation to an anchoring shoulder or element whereby the turning operation is greatly facilitated, after which an outsole is secured directly to the united shoulder element and upper by McKay stitching. The invention will be better understood from the detailed description which follows when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a' perspective view of a shoe embodying my invention but shown partially in transverse section.

Fig. 2 is a fractional transverse section illustrating the manner of lasting the upper to anchoring shouldersof a shoe as shown in Fig. 1.

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are views similar to Fig. 2 showing slight modifications of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a fractional transverse section through a shoe wherein the sole is attached to an upper as lasted in Fig. 5. I I V Referring first to Fig. 1 of the drawing, the numeral Hi indicates the upper and H the lining of a shoe embodying my invention. The inner marginal portions of the upper and lining are secured to one face of a rand or shoulder element or elements l2 of substantially triangular cross section by stitching l3, the said parts being preferably sewn together while the upper and lining are in wrong side out relation upon a last. The shoulder element or elements [2 have secured thereto an outer sole [4 by means of stitching l5. -Preferably the union of the sole [4 to the elements 12 is accomplished by stitching said parts together on a McKay type sewing machine with stitching l5 extending only partly through. the sole [4, that is only through the sole to. the marginal channel l6 therein. The shoulder elements [2 overlie chamfered faces'l'l extending around the periphery of the inner surface of the sole and the top faces of the shoulder elements lie substantially flush with said inner surface of the sole. This overlying relation of the shoulder elements with respect to the chamfered faces of: the sole is such that the sole extends outwardly beyond the edge of the shoulder elements to provide a conventional extension sole on the shoe. If desired, a sock lining (not shown) may be'inserted over the inner surface of the sole and shoulder elements to cover the stitching l5 extending therethrough. In the manufacture of shoes such as shown in Fig. 1 shoulder elements are first temporarily attached to the bottom of the last along the edge thereof as best shown in Fig. 2, afterwhich the upper and lining in wrong side relation are tautly mounted overv the last and temporarily secured thereto through the shoulder elements by tacks IS. The parts while held in this relationiar'e' united together by stitching E3 on a turn stitch sewing machine after which the tacksl9' are withdrawn, the excess material of the upper and lining extending beyond the point Zl'are' cut away and the upper with its attached shoulder" elements are turned right side out. The turned upper is then relasted, the sole I4 is then attached to the shoulder elements by being cemented, stitched or nailed ther'eto and is then finally se-' cured by any one or combination of these means. In the manufacture of shoes in' accordance with the invention thus far described I may obtain the desired material for the shoulder elements I2 by skiving the marginal portions of the outsole I4 to provide the substantially triangular strips l2. These, may be cut down to a narrower width than the skived shoulder so that when attaching the sole to said shoulder strips or elements the edges of the sole may extend beyond said shoulders. In practice said shoulder element may be made in one or more parts and may extend from any chosen point completely around the edge of the bottom of the last or may terminate at any other chosen point. Said shoulder element may also be of any desired size or shape and may be attached in any preferred manner directly to the last or may be attached to a detachable inner sole which may be used to temporarily hold the shoulders to the bottom of the last.

Instead of directly attaching the outer sole to the shoulder element 12, I may under certain conditions first secure a fabric strip 23 to the triangular shoulder element by stitching such as 24 and the upper and lining may then be secured to the fabric strip 23 by direct stitching 25, after which the excess material may be cut away and the upper reversed, relasted and the shoe finished by the McKay process as hereinbefore described. The arrangement of the parts. just described during the turn lasting is shown in Fig. 3.

A further alternative shown in Fig. 4 which I may employ is to directly secure the upper and lining to the edges of an anchoring strip 26 by stitching 21, said anchoring strip extending completely across the bottom of the last and serving the same purpose as the outer sole of the conventional turned shoe during the turn lasting operation. Upon reversing, the shoe structure shown in Fig. 4 and relasting the same with the upper in right side out relation, the sole may be directly secured by stitching to the anchoring element 26 on a McKay type sewing machine.

In Fig. I have shown the upper and lining lasted wrong side out to a slightly modified form of shoulder element 28 which has a reentrant shoulder or lip 29. The upper and lining are sewn to the element 28 by stitching 30 on a turn shoe sewing machine, as in Fig. 2, and after removing the last and trimming the excess material, the upper and lining are turned right side out and relasted. When so turned the shoulder is disposed to seat over a chamfered face of the outer sole, so that the lip 29 provides an extension or welt to which the sole is directly attached by stitching 32 while the shoe parts are on the last. By this method of manufacture one lasting, that is, the final shape-lasting of the shoe is eliminated,thus providing a saving in manufacturing cost.

While I have shown and described certain preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be apparent to a worker skilled in the art that in lieu of the fabric strip 23 of Fig. 3 a piece of rubber may be sewed to the shoulder element and a piece of rubber may also be sewed to the sole and the two pieces of rubber may be cemented to complete the shoe. It will also be apparent that the details of securing the sole to the upper may be varied in accordance with well known practices in the art.

From the foregoing detailed description it will be apparent that footwear made in accordance with the present invention will possess the features of the turned, the McKay and the welt type shoes, but will. be less. costly to produce than the conventional turned shoe since the turning or reversing operation is greatly facilitated and expedited by virtue of the elimination of the necessity of turning the shoe with the outer sole attached thereto.

Throughout the specification and the claims appended hereto, by the term shoe I wish to include the various articles of footwear comprising boots, shoes, slippers and the like for men, women and children, and without desiring to limit my invention it is to be understood that changes in construction and in the method of procedure described may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the claims appended hereto.

What I claim is:

1. That improvement in the process of making shoes which comprises removably securing to the bottom of a bare last adjacent the edge thereof, a rand or shoulder element of considerab y less width than the bottom of said last, securing the lasting allowance of a shoe upper in Wrong side out relation'to the rand element, trimming off the surplus lasting allowance, removing the upper and rand from the last, turning the upper right side out, relasting the upper in right side out relation, applying an outsole over the bottom of the last in overlapping marginal relation to the adjacent portion of the upper and permanently securing the sole to the rand element.

2. That improvement in the process of making shoes which comprises removably securing to the bottom of a bare last adjacent the edge thereof, a randor shoulder element of considerably less, width than the bottom of said last, securing the lasting allowance of a shoe upper in wrong side out relation to the rand element, trimming ofi the surplus lasting allowance, removing the upper and rand from the last, turning the upper right side out, relasting the upper in right side out relation, temporarily securing an outsole to the rand or shoulder element over the bottom of the last in overlapping marginal relation to the adjacent portion of the upper, removing the last and permanently securing the marginal portion of the sole to the rand element by stitching within the confines of the upper.

3. That improvement in the process of making shoes which comprises removably securing to the bottom of a bare last adjacent the edge thereof, a rand or shoulder element of considerably less width than the bottom of said last, securing the lasting allowance of a shoe upper in wrong side out relation to the rand element, trimming ofi the surplus lasting allowance, removing the upper and rand from the last, turning the upper right side out, relasting the upper in right side out relation and temporarily securing an outsole over the bottom of the last in overlapping marginal relation to the adjacent portion of the upper, and permanently securing the marginal portion of the sole by stitching to the rand element outwardly of the upper.

4. That improvement in the process of making shoes which comprises removably securing to the bottom of a bare last adjacent the edge thereof a rand or shoulder element of substantially triangular cross section and of consider-. ably less width than the bottom of said last, securing the lasting allowance of a shoe upper in wrong side out relation to the rand element, trimming off the surplus lasting allowance, removing the upper together with the rand from the last, turning the upper right side out, relaste ing the upper in right side out relation, applying an outsole having a skived marginal portion over the bottom of the last in overlying marginal relation to the adjacent portion of the upper so that the top surface of the rand element will lie substantially flush with the inner surface of the outsole and permanently securing the sole' to the rand element in such relation.

5. That improvement in the process of making shoes which comprises removably securing to the bottom of a bare last adjacent the edge thereof a rand or shoulder element of substantially triangular cross section having an extension lip projecting from one face thereof, said rand element being of considerably less width than the rand element and sewing said sole to the exten- 10 sion lip on the rand element.

SAMUEL J. BLECHER. 

